PowerPoint for the Story and Writing Lecture

1. Story and Writing

2. Difference between story and plot
Story: General subject matter

3. Difference between story and plot
Story: General subject matter
Plot: How the story is told (the structuring
of the scenes)

4. Romeo and Juliet (1968) Franco Zeffirelli
Romeo and Juliet (1996) Baz Luhrmann

5. The screenplay is the skeleton of the film

6. The screenplay is the skeleton of the film
the inner thoughts of the character are often omitted

8. A figurative technique: “An artistic
device that suggests abstract ideas
through comparison, either implied or
overt” (Gianetti)

9. Motif: so much a part of the film
(almost) an invisible symbol

10. Motif: so much a part of the film
(almost) an invisible symbol
A Motif: technique/object: that is
repeated and doesn’t call too much
attention itself

11. Examples:
Water
The Graduate

13. Symbol: Objects placed in a film for purpose of
communicating an idea (symbolic meaning)

15. Homage: The deliberate reference to another film

16. Who is telling the story?

17. First person: Narrator tells personal story (the entire
film is seldom told this way)

18. First person: Narrator tells personal story (the entire
film is seldom told this way)
Omniscient point of view: narrators are not
participants (all-knowing observers)

19. First person: Narrator tells personal story (the entire
film is seldom told this way)
Omniscient point of view: narrators are not
participants (all-knowing observers)
Third person: a nonparticipating narrator tells the story
from the consciousness of a single character

20. First person: Narrator tells personal story (the entire
film is seldom told this way)
Omniscient point of view: narrators are not
participants (all-knowing observers)
Third person: a nonparticipating narrator tells the story
from the consciousness of a single character
Objective point of view: does not enter the
consciousness of any character

21. Literature into Film
Three types of literature to film adaptation

22. Literature into Film
Three types of literature to film adaptation
1.Loose: an idea , situation or character used
from source

23. Literature into Film
Three types of literature to film adaptation
1.Loose: an idea , situation or character used
from source
2.Faithful: attempt to re-create/ as close to
original as possible

24. Literature into Film
Three types of literature to film adaptation
1.Loose: an idea, situation or character used
from source
1.Faithful: attempt to re-create/ as close to
original as possible
2.Literal: usually restricted to plays and
subtler in their modifications

25. Documentary

26. NON-FICTION FILM

27. NON-FICTION FILM
- Early Lumiére films basic documentary

28. NON-FICTION FILM
- Early Lumiére films basic documentary
- Recordings of actual events

29. NON-FICTION FILM
- Early Lumiére films basic documentary
- Recordings of actual events
- No actors, no screenplay

30. NON-FICTION FILM
- Early Lumiére films basic documentary
- Recordings of actual events
- No actors, no screenplay
-However, they lacked any type complex narrative

31. MODERN DOCUMENTARIES
- Deal with real people

32. MODERN DOCUMENTARIES
- Deal with real people
- Places and events

33. MODERN DOCUMENTARIES
- Deal with real people
- Places and events
- No actors, no screenplay

34. MODERN DOCUMENTARIES
- Deal with real people
- Places and events
- No actors, no screenplay
-Documentarians like fiction filmmakers superimpose a
narrative structure over the footage